


Between Worlds

by seamonster



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, THIS IS A SOFT AND SWEET GIFT FOR A SOFT AND SWEET FRIEND, alt world AU, but also adult link!, here ya go, kid link!, kind zora sidon, orphan link, slightly angsty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-12
Updated: 2018-08-12
Packaged: 2019-06-26 14:28:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15665061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seamonster/pseuds/seamonster
Summary: As a lonely orphan, Link's best friend is a giant shark man he meets in the forest. Everyone tells him Sidon isn't real, but he knows the truth.





	Between Worlds

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ecris](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ecris/gifts).



> HAAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY DARLING ECRIS, SUCH SWEET, MUCH FRIEND. THIS IS FOR YOU. YES, WE PLANNED THIS BEHIND YOUR BACK BC WE LOVE YOU.
> 
> THIS IS ACTUALLY A COLLAB WITH THE WONDERFUL COCKY, WHO DREW AN ACCOMPANYING ILLUSTRATION TO GO WITH IT, YOU CAN FIND IT HERE:  
> http://cockismybusiness.tumblr.com/post/176930145396/happy-birthday-my-beloved-leslietries-your
> 
> WE LOVE YOU BITCH

The day his world changed was the first day Groose pushed him into the mud. Link was new to Holy Saint Hylia Orphanage, having only arrived three days prior. It was an old, stately manor built in the lush countryside; with plenty of sprawling fields for the children to play in. The Sisters were welcoming and kind, as were most of the other kids there. So Link strived to be kind in return, just as his mother had always taught him to be. No matter how hard he tried, though, something about Link just rubbed Groose the wrong way.

 

So, on a day his class was helping the nuns out in the stables, Groose cornered him and shoved him into the muck the very moment Sister Ilia was out of sight. Some of the other kids laughed, Groose only sneered and told him that no one should be so fucking happy about their parents dying. Then he kicked manure into his face.

 

Tears burned his eyes as Link scrambled to his feet and took off running. He didn’t have a goal in mind, he just wanted to get away from the laughing; away from the pity in the eyes of the nuns; away from everyone who kept reminding him that his father’s soul was burning for what he did.

 

Link didn’t know the forest back then. It’s twisted trees and spongy moss had looked too mysterious and frightening from the edges at first, but he ran into it anyway, not even cautious of where he was going; of whether or not he’d be able to find his way out again. He just ran until his burning lungs clenched and his tired legs began to wobble. He didn’t see the tree root in time to avoid catching his shoe on it and fell face-first into a pond, pain cracking through his face. In the panicked moment, he forced himself back up out of the water, coughing a sputtering. Shoe missing from his foot, he let himself collapse on the water’s edge instead, ears ringing with the familiar copper taste of blood in his mouth. Still he cried.

 

Cried as the mud on him dried.

 

He didn’t get up, not even when his sobbing died down to sniffles. His face hurt and his sight was bleary from the tears. Around him, the trees let little waterfalls of light roll softly over him and the still pond. He couldn’t hear anything aside from his own pounding blood; not even bird calls or insects in the grass. It was perfectly serene.

 

Until the softest sound came of something slowly breaking the water’s mirrored surface. Link didn’t turn his head or even acknowledge it, young mind writing it off as a frog or something similar. His head was buzzing in pain and he was growing more tired by the minute, distantly dreading his return to the orphanage. Again, the sound of water splashed a little nearer than before and Link let his eyes slip closed. The sound paused again, letting the quiet flood back in around him.

 

His whole body jumped in surprise when something wet prodded him in the chest and exhaustion was replaced with a tensing uncertainty. Link jammed his eyes tighter shut before bravely cracking them open. The world was blurry still, but a haze of red replaced the green trees and blue sky.

 

Cool fingers barely touched his cheeks, but grew bold enough to carefully tilt his face from one side to another. Link didn’t resist, just closed his eyes tight again with a whimper when something like a large hand smoothed his messy hair out of his face.

 

A soft shush like the babbling of a brook filled his ears.

 

With absolute care, a kind finger lifted his upper lip, where most of the pain was. It was immediately dropped when he let out a pained hiss.

 

“Sshhh. I will not hurt you, small one.”

 

There was a foreign lilt to the voice and it was soothing. For some reason, the tension began slipping right out of him. He couldn’t explain to himself why, but Link didn’t doubt the words for a moment.

 

Another soft murmur came, but this time it didn’t even sound like words. More like clicks and croons. His lip and gums began to tingle, taking each prick of pain and easing it away. When it was over, the only thing left was the crust of tears in his eyes and a groggy head.

 

“Be more careful next time.”

 

The hands were gone, the water splashed, and Link opened his eyes in time to catch a glimmer of red as it disappeared into the pond’s impossible depths.

 

The first time Link met Sidon, he’d been only eight years old.

 

-

 

The second time Link met Sidon, he was ten years old and completely hopeless. At least, that’s what the nuns called him, usually in exasperation. It hadn’t taken him long to give up on making friends with the other kids. The bright personality he’d arrived with dulled quickly and he spent most of his free time in the stables or exploring the woods, despite being forbidden from doing so. 

 

A wild boy, that one.

 

He’d found the pond again by happenstance as he memorized the natural paths between the trees. In clear light with a clear head, it looked like a magical place one might find in the pages of a fairy tale. It didn’t take long for it to become his favorite place to go and be alone. He’d bring books to read or skip rocks, sometimes even splashing around in the shallows.

The center of the pond was actually very deep, despite the pond itself being no larger than a backyard pool. A large chasm gaped right down into the earth and it was unclear exactly how far it went. Link couldn’t see far into the shadows.

 

On a particularly sunny day, Link got into another fight with Groose. It had become a commonplace thing over the last two years. The dumb lug was three years older than him and twice his size, but Link refused to accept his taunting and abuse quietly.

 

He managed to walk away with a bloodied nose. Meanwhile, Groose had to be driven to the hospital in town with a broken wrist, moaning and wailing the whole way with his face pinched ugly in pain. Link’s medicine was the forest and his secret pond.

 

The water stung a bit as he cleaned the dried blood off his face. He was sure it wasn’t broken, but it did hurt a lot. Nowhere near as bad as the punishment he knew he’d be getting as soon as he returned to the orphanage, but that pain could wait.

 

Link left his shoes on a mossy rock and let his feet dangle in the water while he tried to stop the trickles of blood that still escaped. Was he supposed to tilt his head forward or back? He couldn’t remember.

 

As he was lost in thoughts of Sister Malon’s first-aid lessons, he didn’t notice the trickle of bubbled rising from the chasm at first. When they bubbled louder, he glanced up and immediately forgot what he was doing.

 

The water in the pond was always exceptionally clear and blue, giving him a good view into the cave until light simply wouldn’t go any further. Because of this, the red fish stood out sharply as it peered at him over the edge. It took his brain a moment to catch up to his eyes and realize that it wasn’t a fish at all. Fish didn’t have necks or shoulders. Or hands.

 

Deja vu froze him in place as they stared at each other through the wobbling window of water. Link felt something warm drip down his chin but it didn’t even register. The creature rose higher, it’s large head swelling the water to breaking, letting bright eyes of gold meet his own gaze unhindered. Link didn’t even realize he was beginning to grin.

 

Neither spoke for a few hushed moments.

 

“I thought I dreamed you,” Link finally said in a hushed voice, red bleeding into his teeth.

 

The creature glanced between his face and the water below.

 

“Perhaps you still are, small one.” The lilt was still there.

 

Link was shaking his head before it, they, finished speaking. “No, this is real.” His body was already acting, pushing him up from his perch and wading into the water.

 

The creature stiffened and Link froze again, but it only lasted a moment. They drew cautiously closer together and Link had to stand in awe as the creature emerged more fully from the water. He was huge, much taller than any adult Link had ever met, and unnatural beyond comprehension. The creature remained in the deep of the water so he didn’t tower to high above Link, while clawed and webbed hands gingerly tilted his face up, head back.

 

“You’re bleeding again. Is this a habit of yours?”

 

Those kind fingers touched his cheeks and Link didn’t even hesitate to grab hold of his wrists. Not to stop him, just to touch him in return, to know this was really happening. His smile only grew wider.

 

“Not my habit. Just my life.”

 

That drew a frown out of the creature.

 

“I cannot think of a suitable life for one as young as you that involves any amount of bleeding.”

 

Link just shrugged and let him look at his nose, pinching off the flow.

 

“I do hope these injuries do not get worse, I’m not exactly an accomplished healer.”

 

“Then why are you helping me?” Link didn’t even want to blink. He watched the creature’s face closely as he made sure nothing was broken or out of place. Up close, he could see flecks of bright green in the gold of those unnaturally large irises.

 

“Why are you bleeding in my pond?”

 

Link didn’t have an answer to that. Instead, he blurted out the first thing on his mind.

 

“You look like a shark.”

 

“I’m not a shark.”

 

“Then why do you look like a shark?”

 

“I’m a Zora.”

 

“What’s a Zora?”

 

The creature sighed and gave Link a pointed look that could rival Sister Ilia’s.

 

“Stop talking, I need to concentrate.”

 

Like last time, the Zora began mumbling sounds to himself, still pinching Link’s nose. A faint glow of soft green tingled over his skin and the pain ebbed away. Link was wide-eyed.

 

“You’re magic.”

 

“Of a sort, small one.”

 

“Link.” He pulled the very large hand from his face but didn’t let it go. “My name is Link.”

 

The Zora finally smiled himself, looking rather amused by the tiny human in his waters. He knew he shouldn’t, but he humored him. He pulled back a bit to give a slight bow of his head. Link itched to reach out and touch the fins.

 

“It is an honor to meet you, young Link. My name is Sidon, Prince of the Zora.”

 

The bow turned into a sharp grin and triumphant pose that made Link laugh for the first time in…

 

Well, he couldn’t even remember.

 

-

  
  


Link didn’t wait another two years to see Sidon again. He’d always been a clever boy and it didn’t take much to figure out that blood was what brought Sidon to the surface. He didn’t even try to pace himself. Everytime he could get away to the woods, he’d rush to the pond and prick his finger on the sharpened edge of a hoof knife.

 

Sidon always came.

 

Link didn’t care that his clothes were getting soaked every time. He didn’t care that he got in trouble every time he returned to the house for being wet and covered in mud. In no time at all, Sidon had become his very best and only friend.

 

He was apparently the Prince of a magical race of people known as the Zora. When Link asked him if they lived at the bottom of the pond, Sidon had laughed. Those sharp, white teeth were fascinating to look at.

 

“The pond has no bottom. It is a gateway between our worlds, from my domain to yours.”

 

“A Link?” He’d asked cheekily, pointing at himself. It earned him more loud laughter and a face full of water.

 

Sidon seemed more than happy describe his home to Link in great, lengthy detail. He was a wonderful storyteller, too. Link learned all about the great land of Hyrule. He learned of the different races and kingdoms. Of wars and droughts. Of heroes great and small. Sidon spared no detail. Link had no idea why the prince was so willing to entertain him, but he wasn’t going to look a gift fish in the mouth, as it were. And every time he closed his eyes to sleep, he dreamed of tall structures in glowing blue stone filled with flowing water and colorful Zora. He dreamed of going there with Sidon and growing up to be a knight.

 

-

 

Being around Sidon happily took away the sting of his own reality. Unlike the nuns, who were nearly at the end of their rope with him, Sidon was patient and understanding. Always willing to help sate his curiosity.  

 

One of Link’s favorite memories was the day Sidon brought a piece of his home with him. It was an instrument and both were very surprised when Link recognized it as an ocarina right away. For all their differences, it was a comforting similarity. They sat together in the shallows of the pond that day. Sidon playing music like he’d never heard from an ocarina before while lounging and letting Link explore the large tail on the back of his head in wonder. His scales were red but they glistened in a rainbow of colors under the sun. It was the most beautiful thing Link had ever seen and the petting didn’t seem to bother Sidon at all. In fact, he looked very relaxed and at peace.

 

He always seemed relaxed around Link. The boy was sure that being royalty was stressful no matter was race you were or what world you lived in. So there was a part of him that hoped he was bringing as much peace to Sidon’s life as Sidon was bringing to his.

 

That day, before his magical prince said goodbye and sank back down into the pond’s depths, he gave Link a gift.

 

The ocarina.

 

It looked like it was carved from a type of coral, vibrant blue with white flecks that caught the sun’s light. It was light to hold and his fingers could reach every hole. Never in his entire life did Link treasure anything more.

 

-

 

They carried on like that for another two years. At the orphanage, Link continued to be passed over by couples seeking a happy child to join their happy lives. It didn’t hurt anymore. Not even Groose’s jabs or insults hurt anymore. Link’s disdain for the older boy faded into indifference over time and he actively avoided fighting with him. If only because Sidon always looked so pained when he had to heal a black eye or busted lip.

 

“That boy seems to aim specifically for your face. He must be hideous to behold to be so bitter of your fair features.”

 

Link laughed for a good five minutes at that, Sidon huffing at him to hold still. He laughed until his sides hurt.

  
  


Sidon marvelled at how quickly Link took to the ocarina, but it came as no surprise to Link. He was too shy to admit that any time he couldn’t safely sneak off to the woods, he’d sit in the stables and practice playing for the horses for hours on end. They always seemed to like it. The instrument was very dear to him; it was a piece of Sidon that he could carry around with him. The haunting melodies it could create helped keep loneliness and bitterness at bay.

 

-

 

“Can I see your home one day?” 

 

The question came out of the blue for Sidon but it was something Link had been thinking on for weeks. They were both floating in the pond; Sidon on his back in the water with Link sprawled over his chest watching the wind tease the treetops. They hadn’t really been conversing, both lost in their own thoughts and the comfort of each other’s company.

 

Sidon didn’t answer right away.

 

“I’m not sure that will ever be possible.”

 

“Why not?” Link sat up and twisted around to see his friend’s face, but Sidon didn’t even open his eyes. “You come here through the pond, why can’t I go back with you?”

 

Sidon sighed, a soft release of breath before he looked at the boy on top of him. Gentle claws poked him in the sides, making him jump at the tickle.

 

“Because, young Link, you do not have gills.”

 

Link looked down at Sidon’s gills, watched them flex, half submerged in the water.

 

“It is a long way through the tunnel and the pressure of the water is very harsh. You are too small to make the trip.”

 

“But you always get here so fast.”

 

“I am a very strong swimmer and my body was built to handle those kinds of depths. You, my pale, scrawny child, are not.”

 

Link huffed and flopped back down with a pout, Sidon rubbed his back empathetically. All he caught of the boy’s grumbling was, “m’not scrawny.”

 

-

 

Maybe Link started to look too happy again, too content with his life in a place where there was little love to go around. Whatever it was, Groose’s bullying suddenly took a sharp turn from bad to worse. 

 

At first, he did nothing but watch. He watched Link hum to himself at breakfast. He watched Link at the stables, practicing his ocarina. He watched Link disappear into the woods when he thought no one would catch him and, more often than not, he watched him return from the woods looking entirely too pleased with life.

 

His shoves and taunting turned into pinning the boy where ever he could get away with and landing a solid punch somewhere. Usually his stomach or back. Then just casually walking away before one of the nuns could catch him up to no good. For a long while, Link resisted hitting back. He held his fists for Sidon’s sake, and his own.

 

But everyone has a breaking point.

 

Link found his on a dreary day in the autumn. Rain had been falling from the grey sky in thin but soaking waves for several days. The fields were muddy and the nuns were getting very tired of cleaning up dirt the children were tracking all over the house. They began insisting that everyone stay indoors. Link was still a small and quiet kid, though. No one even noticed him slip out to the stables. Or so he thought.

 

He wanted to head into the woods but knew he’d get punished dearly if he returned to the house as absolutely filthy as he was sure he’d get. So the stables were the second best choice. Every mare was familiar with him by now, huffing for attention and the sugarcubes he normally kept stashed in his pockets. He made sure all four of them were given equal love before settling down on a crate and pulling his ocarina from his jacket pocket.

 

He’d barely begun to play when he was roughly grabbed from behind and thrown out the door of the stable, into the enclosure, right into the mud. Familiar snickering cut through his disorientation as he shoved himself back up. So much for not getting filthy. Through dizzy eyes, he saw Groose pick up the ocarina and sneer at it while his cronies circled Link on the ground.

 

“Where the hell’d you get this, huh?”

 

Link’s heart dropped but when he tried to lunge up and grab it, Groose kicked him down again.

 

“We see you going into the woods all the time like some kinda fairy. What, is there some old faggot that lives on the other side? You some old fag’s little bitch?”

 

One of the others punched him when he growled and tried to get up again. It made his ears ring.

 

“You like old dick so much you’re getting presents.”

 

“He’s not an old man!” Link was yelling back before he could stop himself. It raised laughter from the other boys.

 

“So you  **are** someone’s bitch!”

 

Groose was holding the ocarina like it was some dirty thing and fear coursed cold in Link’s veins. His vision was beginning to blacken at the edges.

 

“I’m not a bitch and he’s an eight foot tall shark man that could rip your head off!”

 

They at least paused before they howled in laughter again.

 

“Now he’s making shit up!”

 

“It’s true!”

 

“He’s a fucking queer and a fucking liar. Gotta bend over for someone else now that daddy’s gone, huh?”

 

That’s when it happened. As if moving in slow-motion, Groose dropped the ocarina to the ground. It’s beautiful blue stood out vibrantly against the drab world around them, like a sapphire in the mud. Until the heel of a dirty sneaker came crashing down on it. All Link could hear was the sound of the coral crunching and the high pitch in his ears.

 

Then the next few moments happened in a blur.

 

It felt like Link was no longer in his body, though. His mind was frozen on the shattered ocarina while someone who looked like him launch himself onto the bigger boy with a wild scream and merciless fists. The two other boys tried to grab him but one staggered back with a busted lip and the other became too afraid. Groose was yelling in fear, thrashing as if he was being attacked by a feral dog. There was more blood that Link could comprehend in the moment, on his fists and face; he could taste it.

 

The screaming drew the sisters out into the rain. As soon as Link spotted their white habits flocking to the stables, he took off, slipping through the muck right into the gnarled woods. His body knew where to go, despite the rain and tears clouding his sight. The metallic taste in his mouth threatened to make him lose his lunch, but he didn’t stop until he ran straight into the shallows of the pond and waded out waist-deep.

 

His whole body shook and the ringing in his ears had dulled to a buzzing throb where he’d been punched before. His heart was beating so fast that he felt faint and his hands were smeared bright red. The phantom sound of a woman shrieking had him jumping at every sound, convincing him he could hear the sound of heavy boots somewhere in the trees.

 

Frantically, Link washed his hands off in the water, cleaning him face while wide blue eyes darted between the trees. They were going to come for him. The orphanage wouldn’t put up with him, not after this. Oh goddess, what if they sent him back to his father?

 

“Sidon,” he finally sobbed, terrified as the pain of losing the ocarina returned to his chest and tightened his lungs even further, choking his cries.

 

As if he’d heard him, Sidon was suddenly there. He rose out of the water quickly, confused by the strange blood that had drawn him there. Concern painted his expression quickly, though.

 

“Little one, what happened? Are you hurt?”

 

Link was sure he was, but he couldn’t feel it. He could only topple into Sidon’s arms as he continued to sob and shake.

 

“I didn’t--I didn’t mean to hurt him like that. I--”

 

Sidon hushed him in that gentle way that only he could, a comforting rumble clicking in his throat. Link’s hands desperately tried to find purchase on wet scales and Sidon held him all the closer, picking him up in the water.

 

“Please,” he was begging before the sound reached his own ears. “Please take me with you. They’re gonna send me away for this. They’ll never let me come back.”

 

“Link...” Sidon sighed like a man carrying the world on his shoulders. A clawed, but gentle, hand brushed the wet fringe off of his forehead before cool lips pressed the ghost of a kiss there.  “I would if I could, but it would kill you.”

 

“Then let me die with you! I can’t go back!”

 

The words seemed to hit Sidon like a knife to the heart and he froze, drizzle falling steadily around them. Putting Link down hurt them both, especially with Link crying as though he was physically coming apart. He tried to hold on, but Sidon was stronger, and resolute.

 

“You belong with your own people, Link. I will not take you to your death. I’m not sorry about that, but I am sorry about this.”

 

Quickly, Sidon disappeared beneath the water again, gone in a flash of red, and Link’s hysterics grew worse. He tried to follow him, diving down beneath the surface, but Link had never been the best swimmer. His body kept pulling him back up until he dragged his aching limbs up onto the muddy shore and collapsed there.

  
  
  
  


That’s where he was found by the police, hours later, curled up in the cold mud. He was covered in scrapes and bruises and there was dried blood under his fingernails.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“That was almost seven years ago.”

 

Zelda’s voice was as soft as the ticking clock on the otherwise blank wall. It was the only other sound in the office now that Link had finished speaking with his hands. He gave only a single nod, still sitting stiffly on her couch. Her words were far from being a revelation to him; he knew very well how long it had been since he’d left the orphanage.

 

“And you know now what those memories really are, don’t you?”

 

Link nodded again, his expression empty and distant. He raised his hands again.

 

“Dissociative delusions.”

 

“That’s right. Brought on by the trauma of what your father did to your mother ...and to you.” Her voice was kind but it washed over Link like oil on water.

 

He heaved a sigh and asked.

 

“We’ve been over this plenty, doc. Why am I here?”

 

He’d honestly much rather be listening to music in his room still.

 

Zelda smiled a little bit and slipped her glasses off the bridge of her nose. “Your twenty-first birthday is coming up. I’ve spoken to the board about your progress and I’m pushing to have you released. I think you’re almost ready.”

 

Link wasn’t sure if he was surprised or not. Probably not. Or maybe he just didn’t care. It was hard to tell any more, hard to remember what it felt like.

 

His psychiatrist clearly thought otherwise, though.

 

“But before I can finish my recommendation, there is something else we need to do.”

 

Link met her green eyes so she would know he was listening.

 

She bit her lip in hesitation before saying, “we need to find your voice.”

 

Link couldn’t help the snort that ripped out of the back of his throat. In the seven years he’d been residing at Necluda Hills Psychiatric Hospital, he’d been seen by more than a few speech pathologists. He’d still yet to even mutter his own name.

 

Zelda was young, though, and stubborn. Had been since the day she arrived with all the certification and reputation that comes with being a former child prodigy. Link knew she saw him as her make-or-break patient, to prove she was worthy of her position, despite being the same age as himself. Link actually found it kind of funny. She’d been trying so hard to help him for the better part of a year, but their sessions simply made her as open of a book to Link as she wanted him to be for her.

 

So she ignored the snort.

 

“I think you left it there that day, by that pond, when the police took you away. Your mind worked so hard to protect you from what had happened. It even locked your memories away and created someone to be the caregiver you never truly had.

 

“When Sidon left you at that pool, you left part of yourself there as well. But I think we can get it back.”

 

Link wanted to roll his eyes and do a plethora of other things, but he also wanted to leave the hospital and that urge was stronger. He’d been trapped under lock and key for so long, labelled a danger to those around him and himself.

 

So he bit back a sigh and curled his fingers, palms down and then up, asking, “how?”

 

-

 

Zelda’s breakthrough plan landed him the first car ride he’d taken in years, surprising the hell out of him when no orderlies joined them. Her car looked new and she used it to take them far away from the hills, skipping the city and heading towards the countryside.

 

Things had changed since he’d left. So much so that Link hardly recognized the plains as they rolled by. His stomach flipped when they passed a road sign telling them they were entering Lon Lon County.

 

The town was bigger than he remembered.

 

After a few hours, Zelda turned off the main road onto one that was rocky and uneven. The Holy Saint Hylia Orphanage wasn’t even there anymore. The old manor stood abandoned, stables empty. The economy was the blame, Zelda had explained without much detail. She found a solid place to park near the stables, avoiding potholes the best she could. The last thing they would need was to be towed out later. The hospital board wouldn’t likely be very impressed.

 

“Alright.”

 

Zelda put the car in park and turned off the engine, only then did she turn to face him.

 

“We’re here. How do you feel?”

 

Link gave a shrug.

 

“Like I need to pee?”

 

“You can take care of that in the woods, I’m sure. Do you think you’ll be able to find the pond again?”

 

He was nodding before her words really caught up to him, and he drew his brows together in confusion as he motioned between them.

 

“You’re not going with me?”

 

Zelda shook her head with a simple smile.

 

“This is something you have to do yourself, and I  **know** that you can.”

 

She reached over his lap to open the glove compartment, pulling two devices out and turning one on.

 

“This is a GPS tracker, in case you get lost. I’m marking our location here for you to find your way back. I have mine set to track you, in case you don’t come back within a few hours. I’ll come find you. Okay?”

 

Link gave her a dubious look as he accepted the GPS.

 

“And what if I just put it down and run away?”

 

Zelda gave it a moment of thought before returning his earlier shrug.

 

“Then I guess I’ll lose my job.”

 

She clearly took his long-suffering sigh as a promise to not just disappear. Before he could get out of the car, Zelda remembered something else, something she had to reach into the back seat for.

 

“Here.”

 

It was an ocarina. The outside was lacquered a lovely shade of blue and it felt like pins were being pushed into his heart. He accepted it slowly.

 

“Take this with you, and take your time.”

 

The air outside the car was damp with a recent rain that left untamed grass heavy with dew. It clung to the cuffs of his jeans and soaked the surface of his sneakers as he trudged away from the car. The once-familiar forest looked so foreign to him now, wild and thick with undergrowth. Link glanced back, seeing Zelda give him a double thumbs-up. Feeling vaguely numb, he hiked his backpack higher on his shoulders and trekked inside.

 

It was quiet going, his footsteps rustling leaves and breaking small branches were the loudest sounds for what felt like miles. The foliage effectively buffered any sound from outside the forest, making Link feel very alone. Paths he’d once known like breathing were lost to him now, faded from memory long ago. It took him almost forty minutes to finally stumble upon the pond.

 

It looked ...smaller than he remembered, that was his first thought. Of course it was, though. He’d been a child back then. The pond hadn’t changed size, he had. The water was still somehow clear, despite the muddy earth around it, and it gaped like a hungry beast into the earth below. For some reason, it surprised him. But it was dark down in the tunnel without a single hint of red.

 

Link dropped his bag and sat on a fallen log that was so old it had begun to crumble softly at both ends. Moss cushioned his ass pleasantly. With a heavy sigh, he fished a cigarette and lighter out of his sock. Both items bribed off an orderly. The first drag burned his lungs, but he refused to cough. He just let it out slowly and did it again. After a few, his lungs relaxed a bit and began accepting the smokey abuse they were so rarely subjected to. Once he was released, he was probably going to turn into a bad habit.

 

Link sighed again, scratching under his ponytail with his free hand. It was settling on him that his release was currently hinged on whether or not he left this forest with words on his tongue to plead his case to the board. Which was stupid, honestly. He was fluent in sign-language at this point and plenty of people communicated that way. It’s not as though he never  **talked** .

 

He took another long drag. This fucking sucked.

 

Link did nothing more than stare at the perfect surface of the pond until the cigarette was spent and buried down into the mud under his sneaker, despite how tempted he’d been to flick it into the water.

 

For the hundredth time in the last seven years, Link asked himself if he was being stupid. He’d been keeping his voice in for so long that it had just turned into the norm. He never even tried to speak. All of his doctor’s pinned it on trauma, but Link knew it was stubbornness. More like laziness at this point. Just because the last one he spoke to was...

 

To distract himself, Link took the ocarina out of his pocket. It was prettier than the one back in his room at the hospital. He’d purposefully picked one out that looked nothing like the one he’d lost that day, but this one was surprisingly similiar. 

 

Inferior in every way, but similar.

 

Maybe she was right. Link hated admitting it to himself, but sitting by that pond seemed to be bringing him closer to reality than he’d been in years. He’d been holding everything in for so long. Maybe, if he did this, he could finally just let it all go. Let him go. His heart quivered at the thought, but his stomach clenched.

 

The rock that served as an overhang at one edge of the pond was still there, so Link plopped himself down on it with his legs crossed. It was too chilly to let his feet dange in the water. He fished around in the dirt until he found a rock with a sharp enough edge. It took a few swipes before the skin on his finger split open, crying a single drop of blood. Link barely felt it.

 

He hesitated before letting his blood plip into the water below, then sucked the wound clean.

 

Ignoring the chill in the air or how shakey his hands suddenly were, he lifted the ocarina to his lips. For a moment, there was nothing but the wind playing with the treetops, and the pounding of his heart. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began to play.

 

He’d never been able to properly recall the songs he’d heard, sitting by that very same pond. Melodies that haunted his dreams, then cruelly slipped away when he woke. Only bits remained, what he couldn’t remember was replaced by added pieces of his own design.

 

It started softly, slow, but Link decided to just let go and put his heart into it. It was now or never. 

 

The music poured from his breath and danced around his fingertips, as sweet and comforting as he could make it. A little playful in the areas he’d added himself, the music sang over the water. He faintly heard bird calls joining him and lost himself in the moment. It felt so good to finally get it all out. Years of pain and emptiness that extended far beyond the pool, far beyond where most of his clear memories began. He’d healed at the edge of this pond before, he could do it again.

 

He played until he was nearly out of breath, shoulders feeling strangely light. He didn’t realize he was crying until he finally let the instrument fall away from his lips, tilting his head back to feel the bare sunlight on his chilled face. He kept crying, body feeling lighter by the moment. He laughed a little at the thought of actually thanking Zelda later.

 

With a sniffle and a huff at the cloudy sky, Link sagged. He smiled wistfully back down at the pond again, gaze locking immediately, almost naturally, onto bright gold eyes. Both of them froze.

 

Wind scattered green leaves overhead, but Link didn’t even blink. Sidon stared back at him with much the same amazement, equally trapped in the moment.

 

“....Link?”

 

He lurched to his feet, dropping the ocarina with a crack and stumbling off the rock into the pond.

 

“Sidon?”

 

The Zora met him in the water before Link stepped right off the edge of the drop-off. Instead, he threw himself onto Sidon, hugging him hard. He was crying more now, blurring his vision; the sound of his own voice not yet  registering in his ears as he repeated Sidon’s name over and over. He wasn’t the only one, though.

 

Sidon still towered over Link with his size, but he picked him up regardless, letting the young man cling to his long neck. His embrace was tight, but mindful, and Link never wanted to let go.

 

It didn’t take long for him to start shivering in the cold water, though. Or maybe it did? He wasn’t really sure. Sidon’s scales were still sleek and beautiful, and the white skin of his neck and chest was soft. The sharp angle of his snout bumped against Link’s head and shoulder as Sidon held him closer and moved them out of the water. The soothing sound of his voice made Link want to sob even harder because he’d missed it so. But it shushed him gently, begging him not to cry even though Link could feel warm tears not his own soaking into his shirt with the pond water.

 

He rubbed the heel of his palm into both eyes to clear his sight and turned Sidon’s face to his own. A crying prince.

 

“I didn’t think you’d come back, small one…”

 

Link shook his head, words not coming. The walls he’d built around his heart, around his  _ guilt _ , crumbled.

 

“I’m sorry!” He blurted out. “I’m so sorry.”

 

Careful claws brushed his hair back.

 

“You needn’t be-”

 

“For what I said, before.” Fresh tears betrayed him, burning his eyes and choking his throat. “I’m sorry I asked you to do that! I didn’t mean to hurt you, I--!”

 

Sidon squeezed him close again and Link felt the tension in the Zora’s chest. Air shuddered through flared gills. When he loosened his hold again, he bumped his snout to Link’s forehead and tried to brush away his tears.

 

“I forgive you.”

 

Something budded in Link’s chest, something he hadn’t felt in a very long time. He cupped Sidon’s large face, grin breaking through his momentary hysteria. That apology had been waiting for so long.

 

“...I’m sorry, too, Link. For leaving you like that. I’d long given up hope of you coming back.” There was true guilt in the way Sidon looked at him. “After all you’d been through, I just abandoned you here.”

 

Something between a sob and a laugh left Link as he shook his head. Sidon persisted.

 

“I should have tried harder--”

 

“You had already done more for me ….than anyone ever had.”

 

“And then ripped myself away from you when you needed me most.”

 

Link didn’t know what to say to that. Never once had he blamed Sidon for any of it. He’d just missed him. Missed him so badly that he’d refused to even speak until he could apologize to him, see him again.

 

Something determined hardened in the way Sidon looked at him.

 

“I’m not letting it happen again.”

 

Link gaped a moment before he managed to reply.

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Sidon was putting him down and his heart lurched in panic.

 

“Sidon??”

 

“It’s alright, Link. I’m not leaving you. Not this time.”

 

Reluctantly, he let the Zora go, panic not dropping when he swam back to the center of the pond.

 

“I will be coming right back for you, Link. Please, trust me.”

 

“I don’t understand.” 

 

“I know,” Sidon looked unsure for a moment. “But it’ll be clear, soon. I’m coming right back.”

 

He couldn’t help it, when Sidon disappeared back into the water, Link tried to follow. He waded in until the water was up to his waist before forcing himself to stop. 

 

A quiet solitude settled back into the forest around him, but Link’s heart was racing, blood like thunder in his ears. Seven years of being told that Sidon wasn’t even real felt like worlds away. Sidon was real, he was real and he was coming back. Link just had to wait, and it felt like an eternity before he spotted a flash of red zipping right back up out of the tunnel. Sidon didn’t emerge away from him, he swam right up to Link, already reaching for each other. It soaked him again and he smiled, being nuzzled insistently. 

 

“Thank you for waiting.”

 

Sidon smiled at him and Link felt a little out of breath. His heart was glowing.

 

“What did…”

 

“Hm?” Sidon hummed, then perked. “Oh, I went for this.”

 

Sidon motioned behind him and Link realized, with no little amount of surprise, that Sidon had brought something back with him. Some ...big.

 

“...I don’t know what that is.”

 

He felt Sidon’s warm chuckled through his chest. Bobbing in the water was what looked like a tear drop made of glowing blue glass, or was it stone? It was huge, either way, with reflective bubbles gathered on its surface. 

 

“I made it, a long time ago. For you.”

 

Link blinked back up at him, confused.

 

“For me?”

 

Despite being clearly uncertain, Sidon pulled the thing closer and let Link touch it curiously. He still wasn’t sure if it was glass or stone, but it was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. There was a looped ring on the side that Link hooked with his fingers, glancing at Sidon for a nod of permission before pulling on it. Water sloshed into the container when he did, door swinging right open.

 

“I made it after ...last time.” Sidon maneuvered the thing upright, looking nervously between it and Link. “For you.”

 

It clicked together all at once and Link inhaled sharply.

 

“You want me to go with you?”

 

“If you still want to try. I don’t know what will happen if we make it through, but,” Sidon didn’t finish because Link was already squeezing him tight.

 

His eyes were bright when he pulled back, smile wide.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

Sidon bumped his snout down onto the top of Link’s head, smile soft but glowing.

 

“Let’s.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> you can find me on twitter @seamobeemo
> 
> If you like what I do, please consider showing a little love on ko-fi! It's always very appreciated!  
> ko-fi.com/seamobeemo


End file.
